Morocco
Sefrou
A cherry-blossom festival town where a Jewish mellah and Berber medina share one river bank.
The waterfall splits the medina in two — a cascade tumbling through the centre of town, its spray cooling the lanes and its sound threading through the souk like a second soundtrack beneath the vendors' calls. Sefrou's annual Cherry Festival paints the town red each June, but the rest of the year it operates in the pleasant obscurity of a market town that lost its tourists to Fes and never particularly missed them.
Sefrou is a small medina town in the Middle Atlas foothills, roughly 30 kilometres south of Fes. A waterfall runs through the centre of the medina, a feature unique among Moroccan towns. Sefrou was historically one of Morocco's most important Jewish communities — the mellah is well preserved, though the community has largely emigrated. The annual Cherry Festival, established in 1920 during the French Protectorate, celebrates the surrounding orchards and includes the election of a Cherry Queen. The town sits at the foot of the Kandar plateau, with hiking trails and views across the Middle Atlas.
Solo
A medina with a waterfall running through it, a mellah rich in history, and no tourist crowds. Sefrou is an easy day trip from Fes that reveals a different face of Moroccan town life.
Couple
The waterfall medina, cherry orchards, and Atlas views make Sefrou a charming escape from Fes's intensity — close enough for a half-day trip, distinctive enough to feel like discovery.
- The annual Cherry Festival in June is one of Morocco's oldest cultural celebrations.
- The Jewish mellah and Muslim medina share the same river bank, their architecture intertwined.
- The town sits in a lush valley fed by natural springs, green even in summer.
- Sefrou was Morocco's first city to receive piped water — a detail revealing its historical importance.
Cherries by the basketful during the June festival — Morocco's sweetest.
Traditional flatbreads and spiced harira in the Jewish quarter's converted fondouks.
Rye
England
Cobblestoned lanes so steep and crooked even the houses lean in to listen.
Shell Grotto, Margate
England
Millions of shells arranged in unexplained mosaics beneath a mundane street — origin unknown.
Abydos
Egypt
Temple paint vivid after thirty-three centuries, concealing an underground granite chamber that still puzzles archaeologists.
Casabindo
Argentina
Argentina's only bull ceremony strips ribbons from horns at 3,400 metres each August.
Chefchaouen
Morocco
Blue-washed walls dripping with bougainvillea in a mountain medina where cats outnumber cars.
Fes el-Bali
Morocco
Nine thousand alleys where the smell of cedar, leather, and centuries of spice never fades.
Essaouira
Morocco
Atlantic gales rattle shutters on a fortified port where Hendrix once jammed with Gnawa musicians.
Erg Chebbi
Morocco
Saharan dunes taller than apartment blocks turning from gold to crimson as the sun drops.